Photography Article Must Have Accessories for Your (New) Camera|Photography Artist Statement

There is greater to purchasing a new digicam than simply figuring out approximately the body and lens(es). Once you have made that huge choice, there are a few observe-up accessory purchases which you need to make. This submit will provide a brief evaluation of the most common 'must have' add-ons on your new camera.

UV Filter

A UV filter is a screw-on filter out that protects both your lens and your camera frame. It is without problems cleaned and enables shield your lens from dirt and dirt. A UV filter additionally cuts down at the impact of UV rays for your digicam and sensor. When purchasing a UV clear out, you need to recognize the diameter of your lens (indicated with the ? Image). Recommended manufacturers for filters encompass B W and Hoya. Read more about the significance of UV filters in this submit on Lens Accessories.

Spare Battery

You should continually have at least one spare battery available. That manner, you do not ought to fear about how many photographs are left on your modern-day battery. That manner, when one battery gets low, you may without delay update it with a sparkling battery. Off-brand batteries are regularly to be had that healthy the battery that got here with your camera: just do a search for the battery name. I use both Promaster and Sterlingtek batteries with my Canon. Read extra about batteries in How Long Does Your Camera Battery Last?

Extra Memory Card

Along with a spare battery, you have to additionally have an extra reminiscence card handy. Memory cards retain to fall in charge and are frequently closely discounted across the vacations. You also can purchase a small, water-resistant and weather-sealed case to preserve your spare cards. Read greater in Travel Photography Must Haves.

Lens Cap Holder

Lens caps are small, fiddly, and often out of place. These simple holders connect via adhesive to your lens cap and then you can wrap the band around your wrist or lens. A short and smooth manner to keep music of your lens cap.

LensPen

You want to make sure to hold your new digicam easy. A LensPen is a reachable double-sided cleansing tool on your camera lens. One give up has a retractable brush for brushing away dirt and debris, even as the alternative stop has and a flattened tip with a carbon cleaning compound. Use small round motions to wipe away dust and fingerprints. The LensPen is so-known as for its pen form, which makes it clean to transport and preserve one accessible when you exit taking pictures. Read more in Keeping Your Camera and Sensor Clean.

Camera Case

A digicam case is an important, and often neglected, camera accessory. There are primary purposes for digicam bags (wearing your digicam and resources when shooting and for holding your camera, lenses, and components at home), and you could want to take into account exclusive luggage for each.

Think approximately the sorts of shooting which you do earlier than purchasing a bag. For folks who do a whole lot of avenue images or want to stay inconspicuous, the Crumpler logo of digicam luggage are very popular, which includes the Crumpler five Million Dollar Bag, shown above. Backpack-fashion luggage are famous with those who do quite a few touring or want to change lenses often. Personally, until I am travelling considerably, I keep my digital camera out when capturing and use my regular handbag to carry add-ons, filters, and my far flung.

For home use, you also want to have a committed region or bag(s) for storing your digicam, lenses, and different components. Keeping your photography device smooth and prepared will make it less complicated a good way to use and get entry to it each time you want it. Since I realize that I will no longer be touring with this bag, I simply use the inexpensive, now not nicely-padded bulky bag that got here with inside the 'kit' with my DSLR camera and lenses. For travelling, I actually have a more compact, padded bag with a integrated water-proof cover: the Lowe Pro Nova.

Camera Wrap

Another regularly-disregarded digital camera accent is a digital camera wrap. Rather than a case, a wrap is without a doubt a neoprene sleeve on your camera. This is useful for instances when you are travelling with your digital camera and no longer with a devoted case. I often use my digital camera wrap to hold my camera in my purse once I am out traveling with my digital camera however now not shooting on the time.

Remote Shutter Release

A remote shutter launch permits you to function your digicam remotely ? Whether you're the usage of a corded far off plugged into your camera or a wi-fi model. A far flung is beneficial for keeping your digital camera strong when shooting with a tripod, triggering photographs while you need to include yourself inside the image, and taking pictures photographs with a shutter pace longer than 30 seconds (the use of the Bulb placing). Read greater in Easy Photography Upgrade: Get a Remote Shutter Release.

Tripod

A tripod is a useful images tool, and tripods are available in many types and styles. You may additionally want to consider shopping for two unique tripods: a small tour tripod, like a GorillaPod, and a large tripod for more extreme use.

A GorillaPod is a small, bendy tripod. You can use it like a traditional tripod, or you can manage the legs to wrap around some thing and keep up your digital camera. You also can buy a ball-head with degree attachment. The ball-head is extraordinarily beneficial, because it allows you to easily stage your camera without re-adjusting the legs. If you buy a GorillaPod, you need to buy the appropriate version to your length of digicam, as there is a smaller, thinner version for point-and-shoot cameras and a larger, chunkier version for DSLRs.

If you are serious about wanting to use a tripod, then you will want to buy a full-size version as well. There are many varieties of full-size tripods, so you will need to decide which features are important for you. Pricier versions are often lighter or more compact. Many brands, like Vanguard, will come with a lifetime warranty. Take this into account when purchasing a tripod, as a larger investment now may be one that you do not need to ever make again. (I recently had an adjustment button on my Vanguard Alta break during rough transport, and my local camera store was able to ship it off and get it replaced for free within only two weeks. While it was tough to be without my tripod for those weeks, but it was well worth not having to buy a new one!)

Read extra about How to Maximize Your Tripod.

Summary: Camera Accessories

There are many things to don't forget with your new digital camera, and this post has served just to spotlight some of the most not unusual and maximum beneficial ones. If you are simply beginning out, make certain to buy, at minimal, a UV filter out, an additional battery, a spare reminiscence card, and a LensPen or other cleansing materials. Then, as you may, think about including alens cap holder, a digicam case and/or wrap, a remote shutter launch, and atripod and/or GorillaPod. You will find those precious as you preserve to your photographic adventure.

Boost Your Photography: Learn Your DSLR is now available from Amazon. Get the most from your camera with sensible recommendation about the technical and creative components of DSLR photography in order to have you taking beautiful images right away.

Photography Article Foldable DIY Photography Light Tent|Photography Artist Statement

A mild tent is a very beneficial tool in images, mainly for product photographs, close-ups, and any time you need a steady white (or even colored) backdrop and even lighting fixtures. This article will provide an explanation for the simple steps in the back of developing your personal DIY Photography Light Tent, and, as an advantage, this version will fold flat for smooth storage.

Supplies for Your DIY Light Tent

You only need a few basic supplies for building your own light tent, and you may already have them all in your house. The most important thing you will need is a sturdy cardboard box, at least 12 inches square but a bit larger will work even better. The one I used was a 10 x 12 x 18 inch shipping box, scavenged out of the recycling bin.

The rest of the substances you need encompass tissue paper, a roll of delivery tape, scissors, and an x-acto or utility knife. A reducing board and clear ruler also are helpful. You can use duct tape, in case you wish, but I select the clear transport tape, as you do no longer ought to worry about it blocking off any of the light from your final product. After you have constructed your field, you will additionally want a sheet of bright white poster board (or any other colours you may want) to apply for the backdrop.

Supply Summary:

• Cardboard box, at least 12 inches square
• Tissue paper (2-3 sheets, more for larger boxes)
• Clear shipping tape
• Scissors
• X-acto or utility knife
• Sheet of white poster board

Useful however no longer required:

• Cutting mat
• Clear straight-edge ruler
• Pencil or marker for drawing out lines
• 2 small binder clips
• 2 posable light stands with lights

Building the Light Tent

The whole process of constructing the light tent should take you under a half an hour from start to finish. (Mine took significantly longer since I kept stopping at every step to take these pictures. But even with that, I was done in less than an hour.)

The first step is deciding on whether you need to use the flaps at the 'top' of the field to increase its depth. Since my field became most effective 10 inches deep, I selected to tape together the flaps on each the inside and outside, as shown. This gave me a very last intensity of sixteen inches. If you are the usage of a deeper box, you may pick to really reduce off the flaps.

The subsequent step is to determine which aspect may be the lowest of your light tent and then to measure in at the least one inch from all edges for the ultimate three facets of the field. (An inch will give sufficient room to preserve the tape with none tape displaying, however you can need to extend it to an inch and a half of for accelerated balance.)

Use the x-acto or software knife to cut out all 3 sides, being cautious not to reduce via to the other aspect of the box. I used a self-recovery craft reducing mat at this step to guard the underside of the field and a clear ruler to manual the knife. You can discard the cutout pieces.

At this point, you could stand the box up and feature a examine it. The original backside of the container will now be the again of your light tent. Do now not tape down the bottom/back just yet, in case you need so as to without problems re-flatten your light tent for smooth garage.

One different characteristic I decided to feature to my light tent became a slot for a binder clip. Use the x-acto or software knife to cut small slits out of the pinnacle of your light tent along the again side, one near each corner. This will let you clip the binder clip around the back of the light tent from the out of doors to the internal, as proven. You will then be capable of use these clips to hold up your poster board backdrops with no less than fuss. (Confused? Keep analyzing; this could make extra feel later while you may see them in movement.)

The subsequent step is reducing and taping down the tissue paper. Cut the tissue paper approximately a half-inch shorter on all aspects than the real container. This will provide you with a gap of cardboard to attach the tape to, as well as room to wrap the tape around the sides. If you have not yet taped collectively the returned of the light tent (previously the bottom of the container), then you could wrap the tape around and in the bottom flap only, as proven. This will will let you flatten and fold-down the container later for smooth storage.

You should have tissue paper around the two sides and the top. At this point you can lightly tape down the back of the light tent. (I recommend using a big piece of tape inside to hold it too.) Congratulations!  You have just created your own Foldable DIY Light Tent!

The final step is to create the historical past on your seamless backdrop. Take a bit of white poster board and reduce it to the very last width of your box. Slide it up interior to the top, and use the two binder clips to maintain it securely to the container. (See how handy the ones were?) Push the poster board in until you've got a clean, even curve alongside the lower back, and keep away from bending or folding it in any way. You can either trim the board at this point to fit your container size (and fix at the lowest the usage of two more binder clips), or you could depart it extending from the container. As shown, I chose to leave mine extending out, so that you can supply a little extra of the white foreground to work with.

When you are finished the usage of the mild tent, all you need to do is gently slice thru the tape retaining the again of the container together, after which open the lower back flaps and lay the container closed as proven. The tape might be bendy sufficient to permit itself to be folded. Now you may without difficulty keep it somewhere out of the way, like under a bed or in the back of a ebook case.

Lighting Your Light Tent

You can use your light tent in daylight to diffuse incoming sunlight and eliminate harsh shadows. Simply place your light tent in a well-lit spot near a window, with the back of the tent toward the window and with both sides evenly lit.

Depending on the perspective which you want, you may relaxation your camera at once at the desk pinnacle or use a tripod to preserve it regular. This association will allow you to capture calmly-lit pictures, and the light through the top panel may even create an thrilling reflection, in case you are the use of bright poster board.

Nail polish photographed the use of the set up above exactly as proven.

The alternative manner to mild your mild tent is to use lamps, one on every side of the field, if you want to stability every other out and create even lighting fixtures.

Pay attention to the style of mild bulb you're the use of, as many bulbs are designed to impart a "heat glow" to our interior lighting fixtures, however this warm glow can translate right into a yellow-ish hue in your shots (as visible above). Read the packaging of your mild bulbs cautiously, and also you should be capable of locate the shade temperature (in K for Kelvins) of the light. You can set the white balance on your camera to try to fit the temperature of the lighting fixtures, if known. (For example, the daylight white stability setting matches 5400K, fluorescent fits 3800K, and so forth.) If you shoot in RAW, you can modify your white balance in submit-processing.

Example of the equal shot, adjusting the white balance from the RAW report.

Originally shot the use of compact fluorescent bulbs.

DIY Light Tent Summary

A light tent is an incredible useful tool for taking high quality photographs of smaller items and objects. It is particularly useful if you want crisp shots of products for sale and for instructional photographs on a blog or web site. If you want your creations to look their best, then use a light box.

This post has blanketed the basics for growing your personal foldable mild tent out of everyday materials. The next posts on this series will cowl How to Use a Light Tent for Product Photography (extra distinctive recommendation and how to), a Face-Off: DIY Light Tent vs. Store-Bought, and a product review of the Square Perfect SP500 Platinum Light Tent Kit.

Have you built your very own light tent? Post a picture or remark under and percentage your results!

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Not sure you need to go the DIY direction? Read the Product Review of the Square Perfect Light Tent for a package alternative.

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Boost Your Photography: Learn Your DSLR is now to be had from Amazon. Get the most out of your digicam with sensible recommendation about the technical and innovative factors of DSLR photography in an effort to have you ever taking beautiful pix right away.

Photography Article GorillaPod Tripod Review|Photography Artist Statement

A latest re-posting of my earlier tripod article, Maximize Your Tripod, generated a number of hobby from readers who were no longer acquainted with the GorillaPod line of bendy tour tripods. To that quit, I idea it might be beneficial to offer a better overview of the GorillaPod and a number of the commonplace eventualities for which it is able to show pretty beneficial.

What is a GorillaPod?

The GorillaPod is a line of tripods made by Joby that are constructed with flexible legs of multiple ball-shaped units that can be moved and manipulated in a variety of ways. There are several different varieties, so you want to be sure that you purchase one rated for your particular camera.

The Joby GorillaPod original comes in several different colors and is rated for point-and-shoot cameras. The Joby GorillaPod grip tight has an adjustable grip stand to hold cell phones. The Joby GP3 GorillaPod is rated for DSLR cameras and is also available in a GP3 version with adjustable ball head. I have the basic version, which is what you will see pictured in the setup photographs, but I am strongly considering purchasing the adjustable ball head as an add-on (but more on why later). The heavier and bulkierJoby GP3 GorillaPod can also be used with point-and-shoot cameras, but I would not risk using a heavy DSLR camera on the lighter original version.

Portability and Ease of Use

The GorillaPod is very portable and easy to use. You simply screw the tripod into the tripod mount at the bottom of your camera. I find it easiest to hold my camera tightly upside-down and quickly rotate the GorillaPod around until it tightens. Because I generally wear my camera slung over one shoulder, I often leave the GorillaPod attached when moving from shot to shot, and it just hangs down underneath the camera. When not attached, even the larger Joby GP3 (at less than 10 inches long) fits easily into even a mid-range sized purse. (Add 2-3 inches for the version with the ball head.)

The legs are very easy to bend and manipulate, but on the same time, I even have found that they're additionally quite stable and strong as soon as you have got finished adjusting them. You can pull the 3 legs aside and use the GorillaPod like a conventional tripod. You can use them to bend and wrap round something to maintain the camera up or even suspended. You may even bend them down to nearly flat and will let you goal and position your camera from down close to floor stage.

The capability to set up your camera down near ground stage is one of the maximum beneficial capabilities of the GorillaPod. With a widespread tripod, you're often confined in how low you could set up, as most heavy-responsibility complete-scale tripods have a middle pole that limits the minimum top of the tripod. The GorillaPod permits you to maintain your digital camera near the ground but additionally offers you the precision to alter your aim and attitude, which you don't have in case you without a doubt area your camera on the ground. This low viewpoint can give your pictures a unique attitude.

My main complaint with my current GorillaPod, the Joby GP3, is that it is difficult to make minor adjustments to the position of the camera, such as those required to keep the camera perfectly level. Crooked horizons can frustrate any photographer, and they can be a particular problem with the GorillaPod (especially if you are shooting low at ground level and don't want to have to lie on your side to see through your viewfinder). This is where the adjustable ball head with level would come in extremely handy, as it would give you more minute precision and allow you to easily see whether your camera was aimed level.

GorillaPod Example Shots

These pictures had been taken from the identical area, but the pinnacle model turned into shot from the minimum height of my full-scale tripod, and the bottom version changed into shot using the GorillaPod close to ground level. I without a doubt like the huge-attitude sense that the GorillaPod shot gives with the inclusion of the decking and the brought context to the shot.

This is my all-time favorite scenario for a GorillaPod and one of my all-time favorite selfies (it's even featured on my About page). Here, I used my GorillaPod to secure my camera onto the far pole of the merry-go-round. Then, I set the camera for a 10-second timer delay and had it shoot a series of six photographs at a time. All I had to do were choose my settings, set the focus, hit the shutter button, and start running!  Once I mentally had counted down to about 8, I jumped onto the merry-go-round and tried to keep smiling until the camera was done shooting the whole series.

Joby GorillaPod Conclusion

Overall, I strongly propose the Joby line of GorillaPods. They are a wonderful choice for a travel tripod, as even the heavy-responsibility variations are fairly small and transportable, mainly when in comparison to a full-scale tripod, and you may easily match one in a purse, backpack, or camera case. If you've got been seeking out a tripod and are not sure that you need to make the jump to a huge one, the GorillaPod is a splendid alternative. The flexible nature lets in you to apply it in lots of not unusual (and unusual) conditions, and it can in reality make a sturdy effect on your pictures.

Boost Your Photography: Learn Your DSLR is now to be had from Amazon. Get the maximum from your digicam with practical advice approximately the technical and creative components of DSLR images in an effort to have you ever taking lovely photographs proper away.

Photography Article Capture a Day in a Single Image|Photography Artist Statement

Looking for an incredible manner to capture a favorite area or view? What about placing together a college of all of the changes in mild and climate across a unmarried day? This submit will discover how great to go about growing a memorable unmarried-day image like the one under.

(An apart: in case you neglected them, you may test out my photographs from this week's eclipse on Facebook:https://www.Facebook.Com/BoostYourPhotography .)

Image to be had for buy.

Preparing for the Day

The first step is to choose an appropriate composition. Think about a location that will be impacted by both the rising and setting sun and one that will highlight the various transitions of the sun and sky throughout the day. You also want to choose a location that is easily accessible for you. The more times that you can visit and photograph the location through the day, the more options (and more potential slices) you will have to choose from.

As far as equipment, I strongly endorse the usage of a tripod for those sort of pictures. A tripod will allow you to set up in approximately the identical place and height each time, if you want to make it notably less difficult to create the final merged picture. (Read here How to Maximize Your Tripod.)

When I shot the collection of pics for the cityscape, above, I used the "high-tech" method of laying down a chain of 'x marks the spot' sticks at the precise place of every leg of my tripod. Since I turned into taking pictures in a town park, this seemed like an smooth and unobtrusive manner of understanding precisely wherein to put my tripod each time I came returned to shoot during the day.

Don't have a tripod? Just mark where you stood after which shoot from eye level. The series of 3 shots above have been accomplished free-hand using my point-and-shoot digital camera.

How to Photograph a Series of Day Shots

Once you have your location chosen, you will want to stake out a good day to take the photographs. Watch the weather, and find a day that will fit well with your schedule. Days with some cloud cover are ideal, as clouds add an extra dynamic to landscape shots. You want to arrive on location and set up before or during sunrise to get the earliest shots for your series. Consider using a program like The Photographer's Ephemeris to plot out exact sunrise and sunset times and locations.

The settings you use will in the long run rely upon your scene and scenario. I knew that with these landscape-fashion pictures I desired to maximise the intensity of subject. Because I become using a tripod for all shots, it additionally did no longer be counted how long the shutter pace had to be. So, I chose to shoot the bulk of those photographs in Aperture Priority Mode (A or Av) at f/22 and ISO a hundred. I also shot the use of Exposure Compensation and bracketing at plus-and-minus one forestall so that it will get a variety of lighter and darker variations of each composition. (Questions approximately any of those settings? Read more approximately Aperture and the F/Stop Conundrum or All about Exposure or Troubleshooting Your Exposure.) The wooded area collection was shot with my factor-and-shoot the usage of Program mode at ISO a hundred and letting the camera choose the settings.

As stated already, I used a sequence of sticks to mark out the precise area of my tripod, in order that I ought to be sure of shooting the equal composition whenever. After taking pictures the huge view of the scene (as used for the opening picture), I additionally zoomed in and shot a 9-shot landscape model of the scene, to capture greater element and record more pixels for capability large prints.

Return as often as possible for the duration of the day to picture your scene. As it gets in the direction of nighttime, plan on staying around and capturing the sunset, twilight, and night photographs all together. There is best about twenty minutes of elapsed time between the last two shots of my cityscape, for instance. (Switch to Tungsten white balance on your deep night pictures to clearly accentuate the blues.)

Post-Processing: Creating the Collage

The final step is choosing your series of favorite shots and assembling the collage. The instructions below rely on Adobe Photoshop, but other collage programs or apps could also work.

First, select the entire series of photographs that you are planning to use, and copy and paste them into the same file. Then, select all of the photographs and choose the Edit -> Auto Align Layers option. I use the Auto setting. This will align all of the photographs together, eliminating any differences from your aim, composition, etc.

Auto-Aligning the Layers will leave gaps alongside the rims in which individual pix do now not overlap.

Use the crop device to create your very last composition. (Generally, aligning the layers will suggest that there are actually a few gaps alongside the edges of certain images.) Think approximately the factor ratio of your very last shot earlier than you crop: do you want to preserve it as a 4x6 or an 8x10 or widescreen? (Read greater approximately Aspect Ratio: Know Before You Crop.) For the model proven, I cropped to a 2:3 aspect ratio (4x6) but additionally did every other version with a widescreen (1:2.35) thing ratio.

Now you need to decide which portion of which picture to use as part of the final composition. Use guides to divide your composition into equal slices (or not, if you prefer). Then, click to select the top-most layer. Go to Layer -> Layer Mask -> Reveal All. This will add an all-white layer mask next to this layer. Now, use the select tool to select the sections of this image that you do not want to show.

The selected part of the image will have a black layer masks brought to hide it from view.

Click to select the layer masks, and then use the paint bucket tool to paint the choice black. This will cover that part of the image from view. Repeat this process of including a layer mask and choosing handiest the desired phase of every of the images. Then you will have your very last photo - a university across the day inclusive of a slice for every image!

Final composition displaying Layers Palette with black and white layer mask.

There you have it!  What will you photograph and create?  Share a link in the comments below!

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Photography Article A Year Ago on Boost Your Photography|Photography Artist Statement

This was a great two weeks from last year: this iteration of A Year Ago on Boost Your Photography includes two of the top five articles of 2013. Enjoy!

2013:

• Spinning Fire with Steel Wool Photography. It's easy to capture amazing photographs with steel wool spinning. This article will walk you through all that you need to do to creative these types of photographs safely and easily (even with a point-and-shoot camera)!

• Shoot the Moon with The Photographer's Ephemeris. Another popular post, this one explains how to capture amazing moon photographs by using The Photographer's Ephemeris to plan your shoot.

• Maximize Your Tripod. Get the most out of your tripod with these simple tips.

• Cheap and Easy Macro: Comparisons and Recommendations. This summary article provides a quick overview of the most common, inexpensive ways to capture macro photographs, along with links to all the detailed articles about each method. The final head-to-head comparison will help you decide which method(s) may work best for you.

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